


Silver Strands

by GretchenSinister



Series: My Top 10 JackRabbit Fics [3]
Category: Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: M/M, eldritch guardians
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-03
Updated: 2020-01-03
Packaged: 2021-02-27 11:14:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 980
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22096189
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GretchenSinister/pseuds/GretchenSinister
Summary: Original Prompt: "Jack has a crush on Bunnymund and after many pep talks (either with himself, or others), he decides to confess his feelings – unfortunately, Bunny doesn’t feel the same way (he tries to be as nice as possible about it though).BONUS POINTS if Jack tries to play it off as a joke, even though it’s obvious that he’s lying.just make my heart ache, please"Dumb Eldritch Abomination Polyamorous Whatever time! Jack’s seeing things a bit differently these days. Bunny isn’t.Before Jack’s full transition to eldritch-ness.
Relationships: E. Aster Bunnymund/Jack Frost
Series: My Top 10 JackRabbit Fics [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1589287
Kudos: 27
Collections: JackRabbit Short Fics





	Silver Strands

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted on Tumblr on 10/14/2013.

_If I don’t do this now, I won’t be able to do it later._  
  
Jack paces back and forth on the frozen surface of a small pond far away from any human habitation. Fractal patterns of frost, like idealizations of ferns, spread from where his feet touch and vanish as soon as he takes his next step. He doesn’t look down at them anymore, though. When he had started pacing, he had watched the patterns form and seen that they were perfect down to the atomic level, even when the structure of the water molecules should have prevented that. He didn’t want to see those things, to know he could see those things.   
  
Now, he looks out at the evergreen trees and the distant mountains or up at the feathers of clouds tossed in long white plumes over the hard blue sky.  
  
He remembers when such a scene seemed infinitely complex, infinitely beautiful, joy in every angle of every needle on the trees. Now, it’s still lovely, but if he wants to see infinity in it again…well. He knows he’d have to open his eyes in a way he’s not quite used to yet. In a way that tends to draw a certain amount of attention.   
  
That’s the last thing he wants today. It’s not like they would be jealous—he’s pretty sure they _can’t_ be jealous—but they aren’t him. He’s still separate, damn it all! And he has to go to Bunny alone. It’s the only way he even has a chance of getting him to listen.  
  
And that means he has to do it soon.  
  


* * *

  
  
“Hi, Bunny,” he says, leaning on his staff. He hopes he’s entered the Warren in some usual way—looking at Bunny, he’s so nervous, he doesn’t actually remember.   
  
Bunny turns and greets Jack with a smile, as he’s done more and more often recently. He’s been tending some of the plants in the garden, though, since it is a very old garden, all the work done there is really for pleasure, and not, strictly speaking, necessary.  
  
Though he knows he doesn’t have a physical heart, Jack feels his leap and pound. What is he going to say? He had a plan, didn’t he?  
  
“What’s up, Frost? Having a good day? Must be getting on Winter up there now, right?"  
  
“Yes—” Jack has no idea what to say. Bunny is—Bunny is beautiful. Well, he had started to think that a while ago, but now—how had he not noticed? There’s a glow about him, a glow of pure life, and when he breathes everything in the Warren breathes with him, everything on Earth breathes with him. Jack can feel it washing over him, better than summer heat. And more than that, he can see now the silvery billions of strands of hope shining away from Bunny’s head and heart and they shimmer in the glow too and some are passing through him, Jack—  
  
“You’re so beautiful,” Jack gulps, because he really is, overwhelmingly so. “May I?” He asks, and reaches out his free hand to touch lightly upon the hopes—does Bunny do this too? He wonders. He must, and he must play the most beautiful music in the world upon them.  
  
Bunny frowns in puzzlement as Jack moves his hand through the empty air. “Uh, mate? What was that you were saying?”  
  
Jack looks back at him. “I mean it! And I’m not just saying it because—” he focuses entirely on summoning his courage—“I love you. But I do love you.”  
  
Bunny’s jaw drops and his eyes widen. Jack hopes that’s a good sign, and he sees the silvery strand wave like a ribbon in a breeze from his chest to Bunny’s. He blushes, and Bunny closes his mouth, his expression turning solemn.  
  
“Follow me, Jack,” he says.  
  
Still hopeful, so hopeful—can’t Bunny _feel_ it? Jack follows him to a still pool.  
  
“Look down, Jack,” he says, and Jack does.  
  
He’s gone as clear as crystal, the shadows of his body only stylized marks of frost now. His clothes are gone, and within his living ice he can see slow drifts of snowflakes, like insects in amber, spiraling slowly out from concentrations where his brain and heart were when he was human. His eyes shimmer like the Northern lights, and as he looks into them, for an instant he doesn’t think he looks any different. After that instant, he gasps—though of course he doesn’t need to.  
  
Beside him and his light, Bunny barely reflects. “You’re beautiful too,” he says. “But I don’t think it’ll work out between us.”  
  
“But—Bunny!” Jack looks at him, eyes wide and frantic. Yes, outside of the reflection, Bunny still looks the way Jack saw him before. “No! You’re—if you could see what I see—”  
  
Bunny holds up one broad paw. “Jack. Please. Don’t tell me.” He looks into Jack’s eyes and smiles a little sadly. “I’m a bunny. I’ve worked hard to stay that way.”  
  
“I—I don’t have to be like this, Bunny! I just got—distracted.”  
  
“Jack. This is who you are now. And I know it wasn’t your idea. But I can’t take your love like this.”  
  
Jack hangs his head, the human gestures still most familiar to him now. “I’m sorry.”  
  
“It’s not your fault, Frostbite. I’ll still—I’ll still talk with you about it. Not here, though. Winter—you’re managing to freeze parts of even _this_ garden.”  
  
Jack bites his lip, looking down, and he swears he can see Bunny’s light shimmer off the movement of the pliant crystal of his face. _Why won’t he let himself know?_ He nods.  
  
“See you round, old man,” he hears Bunny say, as he leaves the Warren slowly, physically—courteously.  
  
Still, he can’t help but notice that the strand of hope between them narrows, but does not break. 

**Author's Note:**

> Tags and Comments from Tumblr:
> 
> #dumb eldritch abomination polyamorous whatever#I WILL NEVER LET THIS AU GO
> 
> melbaparkermalfoy reblogged this from gretchensinister and added:  
> My heart broke.


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